Monday, 11 August 2014

Rosetta arrives at comet destination

6 August 2014
After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA’s Rosetta has today
become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new
chapter in Solar System exploration.
Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and Rosetta now lie 405 million
kilometres from Earth, about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and
Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55 000 kilometres
per hour.
The comet is in an elliptical 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond
Jupiter at its furthest point, to between the orbits of Mars and Earth
at its closest to the Sun. Rosetta will accompany it for over a year as
they swing around the Sun and back out towards Jupiter again.
Comets are considered to be primitive building blocks of the Solar
System and may have helped to ‘seed’ Earth with water, perhaps even the
ingredients for life. But many fundamental questions about these
enigmatic objects remain, and through a comprehensive,in situstudy of
the comet, Rosetta aims to unlock the secrets within.